A few months ago, I essayed a piece over a mass shooting down in Baden-Wuerttemberg (SW Germany), involving a young gentleman (age 27)and his family.
So the court episode has opened, and SWR did a fairly good assessment of day one.
To sum up the shooting....this guy pulled a pistol on his parents, two step-siblings, and an aunt/uncle.....shooting them all dead. He is the one who called the police after the shootings, and surrendered himself.
Yesterday, court started up. The young guy stood there and told the story, which I kinda admit....it's a bit weird.
He says his mother had always wanted a girl, and done various things to feminize him (suggesting female hormones, and severe criticism on a constant basis). He didn't have any problem admitting guilt over shooting the mother....saying at some point, "I wanted to make sure she was dead".
The pistol used? Legally purchased. He had gone to the classes and gotten the gun card.
A nutcase? Well....several news sources are hinting that a court assessment of his mental bearing has been done and will be presented. Some suggest paranoid schizophrenia will be presented.
If the judge buys off on the schizophrenia? He'll simply sign the paperwork and present the guy to some mental clinic for a lifetime of care, under strict guard.
Five-star movie script? At this point, I'd suggest that it's one of the weirdest murder stories from Germany over the past couple of decades.
The article over at SWR is definitely worth a read.
2 comments:
Why, as in this post of yours, do you name our native German people who commit unspeakable Wahnsinn a "young gentleman" and then you name every Asylbewerber or immigrant with darker skin a "thug". Das verstehe ich nicht.
Hans
First, I had to use some type of description for the young guy in this case, and after looking at the entire story...I felt some compassion for him and felt the term 'young gentleman' would fit. I do believe he has mental issues, and probably had them his entire life. Had he been continually in trouble with the police or detained on various occasions...I would have used another description word for him. But that's not the way that the story goes.
Second, I haven't used the word 'thug' except in cases where violence has been a continual trend in some individual's history, or destructive behavior on the streets seems dominating.
Third, you can go and browse through the past thousand odd essays, I haven't associated migrants as thugs. If anything, I've balanced out thug activity to be both German and non-German. Once you get into assault, destruction of property, threatening people....you are behaving as a thug (your skin isn't the factor, your behavior in public is). Note the times I've discussed soccer club 'hooligans'...'hooligans' (who can be German, British, Italian, or even Russian) are seeking trouble, threatening people, and assault is part of their mentality. It's not a term owned by any one nationality.
Finally, let's be honest and note that the English term 'thug' doesn't translate well into German (Schläger). I probably should use the German term 'böse Jungs', but that only relates well to Germans over the age of 50. The younger German crowd would laugh over my wording or description in that case. But then if I translate this back to my general audience of non-Germans....'bad boys' is a laughable term. Translations....marginally work, and I think we both can agree upon that.
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